Chapter 1189: Shattering Space-Time, a Battle Worth Fighting

In the raging chaotic void, the alien supremes and true emperors all stood on edge, their eyes locked warily on the black-haired youth standing far ahead in the distance.

The Heavenly Flame Race's primordial supreme glanced at the severely weakened Guta and Gudo and slowly said, "Divine Might Supreme, is there some misunderstanding here? All of us saw it just now. Guta and Gudo have nothing to do with the Nine Hells. The one that is suspicious is that undying soul remnant. When the humans fought the Shadow War Gods and the Golden Divine Race earlier, it was Guta who warned us not to intervene. It said it was a feud between the three races and that other civilizations shouldn’t act rashly."

"That’s right." The Heavenly Silver-Winged Ant and Purple-Maned King Hou supremes both nodded slightly, voicing their support.

For millions of years, the Heavenly Punishment Race had held immense prestige across the Ancient Battlefield. If Chen Chu couldn’t produce solid proof that the two were tainted and still chose to suppress them by force, it could easily provoke anger among the gathered powers, perhaps even stir them into rebellion. If that happened and the five peak civilizations, already wary of humanity’s strength, decided to join hands against him, then so be it.

Just as the cold-faced Chen Chu was about to speak, the True Radiant Sky Emperor softly said, "Chen Chu, should we wait a bit longer, until Lun and Xu arrive?"

"No need." Chen Chu shook his head calmly.

Of course, he knew what the Radiant Emperor meant. If he truly intended to wage war against every race on the Ancient Battlefield, then it would be best to wait for the True Reincarnation Emperor and the True Void Emperor to arrive.

The human race now possessed two primordial supremes and four primordial emperors. Every one of them was peerless among their level. Especially the Reincarnation and Void Emperors, the two who had later surpassed the other true emperors and entered the primordial supreme level faster than anyone else. Their strength was immeasurable, their battle power transcendent.

One only had to look at the Temporal Reincarnation divine ability to understand this. Unlike Chen Chu, who wielded an incomplete mark of time, the Reincarnation Emperor’s divine ability had fully evolved upon his breakthrough, transforming into the Cycle of Space-Time that was both mysterious and boundless. If they came to assist him, they could block several peak-civilization supremes while Chen Chu subdued Guta and Gudo with ease.

However the Radiant Emperor had no idea how terrifying Chen Chu’s current power truly was. In his perfected Sixth Primordial Heaven state, even if he stood alone, his strength alongside the Dragon Emperor’s was enough to suppress an undying being. Together, their powers intertwined, enough to battle an Eighth-Primordial-Heaven immortal head-on.

"You all seem to have forgotten something." A calm and distant voice echoed through the void. Behind Chen Chu, one after another, thirteen radiant light wheels unfurled, each resembling a grand array stretching across billions of kilometers. Instantly, an overwhelming might rippled outward, shaking all of the heavens. It was as if a divine being who had achieved the Dao through sheer force had descended.

The pure and formless pressure filled the entire Ancient Battlefield, compressing the very principles of existence until even primordial beings felt suffocated, as though they had stepped into another Great Thousand World and were being crushed beneath its laws. The force was so vast that even the void groaned and cracked beneath it, resonating with the ethereal chanting of countless unseen lives praising power itself.

"Impossible! Your power!" The Heavenly Flame supreme cried out in disbelief, staring at Chen Chu, whose fully released aura now eclipsed even that of a true undying existence.

Silence fell across the gathered beings, as Guta and Gudo’s faces grew grim. Before this, when Chen Chu had crushed the primordial emperors and sovereigns of the Shadow War Gods, his might had already seemed overwhelming, yet still within the Sixth Primordial Heaven.

He had been invincible then. But now...

Roar!

As everyone trembled beneath Chen Chu’s boundless aura, the entire layered universe of the Ancient Battlefield quaked. A huge shadow surged behind him, and a colossal beast emerged, its black-purple glow igniting the void. Its head alone spanned nearly a trillion kilometers.

Its golden vertical pupils, burning with purple-black flame, gazed coldly across creation. Under that stare, even the Sixth-Primordial-Heaven powerhouses froze where they stood, limbs numb with terror.

They had been so distracted by the chaos of the Nine Hells and the undying remnant that they had forgotten about this monster, the creature that had devoured the Shadow Supreme in a single bite and torn apart the entire Ancient Battlefield. Its existence was far more terrifying than the seemingly calm Chen Chu.

Boom!

Azure-white thunderbolts split through the dark void like endless scars, twisting across the layers of space-time before vanishing into the depths. As soon as they sensed Chen Chu’s firm killing intent, Guta and Gudo realized that there was no way to defeat him head on, nor any way to stop Luo Jia from escaping. They split apart, fleeing in opposite directions with the Heavenly Punishment Divine Lightning.

With a powerful super innate ability, their auras manifested in dozens of space-time coordinates simultaneously, and none could tell which were real and which were illusions. Even Chen Chu couldn’t distinguish them.

However, he didn’t need to.

Hum!

Behind him, one of the chaotic light wheels trembled and collapsed, condensing into a massive bronze bell etched with golden patterns.

Dong!

A deep, ancient toll echoed through the seven universal layers of the Ancient Battlefield.

Boom!

Spacetime itself disintegrated from the force of its vibration. Transparent rifts spread in all directions from where Chen Chu stood, sealing the very fabric of existence.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The traces of Guta and Gudo scattered across dozens of time-streams exploded all at once. Their true forms, which had fled light-years away into another era, shattered as they were forced out of their parallel timelines by the fracturing of spacetime itself.

Boom! Boom!

Fragments the size of planets erupted into existence, swirling like black holes. The energy they released, mixed with blinding white thunderbolts, tore apart all surrounding matter and energy.

Roar!

Before Guta and Gudo’s true forms could even reform, a thunderous roar resounded across the heavens, so fearsome that it deafened everyone. They could no longer see or sense anything. All they could feel was an unfathomable power of destruction bursting forth, like a black hole that devoured the universe itself was descending upon them.

When the darkness finally faded and their senses returned, the auras belonging to Guta and Gudo had already vanished. At the distant edge of the battlefield, a vast hole spanning a trillion kilometers had appeared, as if a portion of the universe itself had been bitten away, leaving behind a wound that would not heal.

It was a scene they had witnessed before. The Shadow Supreme had fallen to this very same technique. That colossal beast could devour and suppress even a primordial supreme within its body. It couldn’t erase them instantly, but once swallowed, their only fate would be slow annihilation if they failed to break free from that devouring prison.

Such power was the natural nemesis of any so-called undying primordial being. Not only the Heavenly Flame supreme and the others, but even Luo Jia, who had been silent all this time, revealed a deep wariness in its eyes. The devouring force that the colossal beast controlled was even more terrifying than the corrosive refining power of the Nine Hells creatures themselves.

As the gathered beings stared in unease, the chaotic bronze bell in Chen Chu’s hand dissipated and transformed back into a vast, complex light wheel array behind him, slowly revolving. His gaze swept over the alien powerhouses before resting upon the silver-blue figure whose body had grown faint and translucent.

His voice was calm and detached as he said, "I have slain the Heavenly Punishment Race that conspired with the Nine Hells and raised countless lives on this battlefield as livestock. Now, we should discuss your situation."

The silver-blue figure’s eyes grew solemn. "And how do you wish to discuss it?"

In the presence of this human whose strength defied comprehension, Luo Jia felt an unfamiliar pressure. Its cultivation level was clearly higher, yet it experienced a feeling of awe reminiscent of when it had once looked up at mythical beings in its youth. It wasn’t because its projection was incomplete, either.

This human’s realm may still be within the Sixth Primordial Heaven, yet his very life essence stands above my own.

The realization left it momentarily dazed.

When did those below become this terrifying? Or has the era itself changed?

As countless thoughts flashed through Luo Jia’s mind, Chen Chu evenly said, "Tell me the truth about what lies above, and I can consider helping you deal with the Nine Hells’ power within your body."

"What? You can suppress the Nine Hells Qi that’s already corroded my soul essence?" Luo Jia’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Chen Chu’s tone remained calm. "Indeed. The Nine Hells Qi inside you is troublesome, but not beyond my ability to handle. I can sever the corrupted portion of your soul essence and erase it together with the Nine Hells Qi. That way, you won’t lose control and trigger a Nine Hells Catastrophe."

"...That, I think, still can be saved." The silver-blue figure hesitated, clearly unwilling.

After being suppressed and refined by the Nine Hells' monster for countless years, it had already abandoned its true form to escape, and its divine soul will had been left weak and fractured from the struggle. If its soul essence were cut in half again, then even if it survived, its realm would fall drastically, and it would never advance again. Reaching the undying realm anew or reforging its true form would be impossible.

"I have a way to temporarily seal the Nine Hells Qi." A distorted voice came from the depths of the void. The darkness split open, and a shadowy figure soundlessly emerged.

"Xu, why are you here?" The Radiant Emperor turned, surprised to see the twisted silhouette.

It was the Void Emperor’s power projection. Ever since becoming a primordial sovereign ten thousand years ago, the Void Emperor had vanished deep into the endless void, never once revealing his true form. Even the Radiant Emperor and the others had no idea what he truly looked like now.

"You are certain you can seal the qi within me?" The silver-blue figure looked at the projection before turning its gaze back to Chen Chu.

Only this human and that colossal beast truly made it wary, and only this human’s words could decide its fate.

Chen Chu slowly said, "This is a senior of my race. If he says he can do it, then he certainly has the means to seal the qi within you. The next matter is simple. Tell me what I want to know. Otherwise, erasing you would be far easier than helping you."

The Void Emperor had spent his life studying the principles of the void. As a senior powerhouse of the human civilization, his words carried weight. His sudden appearance made it clear that he, too, was interested in the Nine Hells Qi and wished to study it.

"I understand what you mean." The silver-blue figure nodded slowly, accepting the implicit threat. To it, the truth about what existed above the seventh layer was worth more than its own life.

Pshh!

Before the eyes of all watching, the silver-blue figure reached into its own chest and tore out a large fragment of its soul, a translucent shard of blue crystal that drifted toward Chen Chu. Even a single fragment of a primordial life form contained boundless profundity. An ordinary being would have their soul obliterated by the flood of information within it.

When Chen Chu grasped the fragment, countless streams of knowledge exploded within his sea of consciousness, coalescing into a strange vision. A pitch-black, frigid world appeared. There was no sky, no earth, only endless dead black burial grounds.

Each burial ground resembled a vast Chaotic Continent stretching for more than a dozen light years, their surfaces shrouded in gray-black mist. Towering atop each landmass stood an enormous tombstone. The mist coiled around them, forming a vortex that reached from the heavens to the abyss. At the heart of each swirling storm, a faintly visible, ferocious mouth gaped wide, devouring and absorbing the power beneath it.

There were nine such burial grounds in total, and each one represented an ancient undying corpse interred below. Two of the grounds had already cracked open. The soil had collapsed, revealing fossilized remnants beneath. It was evidence that the undying beings buried there had already been digested by the Nine Hells' monster.

Nine burial mounds, nine undying powerhouses. Not the dozen that the silver-blue figure had mentioned earlier.

Within the fragment of the soul were not only images of what lay above the seventh layer, but also all of the knowledge that Luo Jia possessed. After the Nine Hells Catastrophe a million years ago, the first group of ancient undying beings had ventured into the seventh layer to explore.

At that time, the upper level was filled with an immense concentration of Supreme Chaos energy, and the air was still thick with the lingering eternal aura from the battle between two eternal-level colossal beasts. Before Luo Jia and another undying cultivator could greedily absorb and refine those powers, endless Nine Hells Qi swept across everything.

A boundless monster of the Nine Hells descended, clutching three enormous undying corpses within its claws. The monster's strength was beyond imagination. Its immortal-level power was something neither Luo Jia nor the other undying powerhouse could withstand, even though the monster itself seemed to be wounded.

Since that region had already been transformed into the creature’s lair, there was nowhere to flee. In the end, Luo Jia and the other undying being were both suppressed. Relying on its divine ability, Luo Jia solidified its true form and sealed itself to slow the erosion and refinement brought by the Nine Hells Qi.

No undying powerhouses were ever seen in the Ancient Battlefield again in the records of any civilization. Yet through its faint perception, Luo Jia sensed that four more undying beings had entered the seventh layer one after another, only to become food for that same monster.

That hopeless stagnation continued for a million years. Just as Luo Jia’s true form was nearly half refined, an unexpected force erupted. A surge of power tore open the seal of the seventh layer and appeared precisely above the burial ground where its remains lay.

That force shattered the Chaotic Continent where the monster had buried it, revealing Luo Jia’s incomplete upper body. Seizing that rare chance, its divine soul will sealed within its skull unleashed the last of its power in a desperate attempt to break free, and the rest followed as Chen Chu had witnessed.

After a long silence, Chen Chu slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, both his and the Dragon Emperor’s eyes blazed with an irrepressible battle will.

Seven undying remnants, one immortal powerhouse whose wounds had yet to heal. It was a battle worth fighting.